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Flying car successfully completes maiden flight

An electric flying car that promises to revolutionise how we travel has completed its maiden test flight in Germany.

Lilium, the company developing the jet-propelled vehicle, says it could eventually change the face of transport by allowing passengers to rapidly travel through cities or commute long distances quickly.

The Lilium Jet takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter, but uses wingpower once in the air to travel quietly and efficiently. Powered by an electric battery, it has a range of 300km (186 miles) and can travel at 300km per hour.

The prototype, tested in Munich, had room for two people but Lilium has developed a version that can seat five that it eventually plans to use to transport passengers. Lilium expects that users will hail the flying car with an app, as people currently do with Uber cars.

The Lilium jet on its test flightCredit: Lilium

It says that because of the reduced time it will take to ferry people around cities, the vehicle will eventually be able to take people from JFK Airport in New York for $6 (£4.70) and in five minutes. The equivalent journey in a taxi takes 55 minutes and costs up to $73.

Lilium says its mission is to "liberate towns and cities from today’s congestion and pollution, with people able to come and go freely, vastly expanding the radius of their everyday lives".

An impression of a Lilium landing station in New YorkCredit: Lilium

The electric motor is meant to reduce emissions in busy cities, while quicker transport and less traffic will make it five times faster than a typical car journey. The company says this means people will be able to live five times further away from work than they do today.

The vehicles would only need a small area to take off and land in, so could do so on the roofs of buildings and car parks. The "vertical take-off and landing" (VTOL) technology directs its 36 jets downwards to ascend into the air, and then horizontally to drive it forward.

The vehicle uses jet engines that can be directed downward or backwardCredit: Lilium

This is seen as a far more efficient transport method than air taxis that rely on drone-style rotors.